WildlifeSNPits Post 28/05/2019: Behind the paper: taxonomy and conservation of grassland earless dragons

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I’ve used some of these photos in previous posts (here and here), but now I need to post an update. This little dragon is now known as the Monaro grassland earless dragon.

I’m excited to be a co-author on the paper, published last week in Royal Society Open Science (open access), that describes this species. This research combines several methods (phylogeography, phylogenomics, external morphology, micro X-ray CT scans) to review the grassland earless dragons of south-eastern Australia. It also shows how historic museum specimens can be important to understanding current biodiversity...